A remarkable indy classic, made on a shoestring
budget by a group of still photographers. It's an
affecting lyrical comedy-drama that fully captures
the flavor of urban childhood innocence of the
1950s. It's written/directed by the team of Morris
Engel and Ray Ashley and Ruth Orkin. The Little
Fugitive was added to the Library of Congress
National Film Registry in 1997. It won the Silver
Bear Award at the 1953 Venice Film Festival.
Francois Truffault credits Engel's Little Fugitive,
a minimalist b/w filmed story told in a simple
naturalistic manner, as being a major influence for
the French New Wave films. The film's inventive use
of handheld cameras (35mm) and its disjointed
editing techniques establish a documentary-like edge
perfectly attuned to its honest treatment of
childhood astonishment and anxiety. But the film's
greatest strength is the unforgettable performance
Richie Andrusco gives as he charmingly plays the
7-year-old runaway Joey Norton, who innocently
wanders alone in crowded Coney Island for a day and
a half.

When the widowed Mrs. Norton, a Brooklynite in a
working class area, learns her mother is ill by a
long-distance phone call, she tells her 12-year-old
son Lennie that he will have to baby-sit his younger
brother Joey and not go with his two friends to
Coney Island as promised. Childishly upset over this
disappointment, Lennie and his friends Charley and
Harry pull a mean-spirited trick on Joey. Harry has
Joey fire a rifle and Lennie pretends he was shot
dead, even smearing ketchup over his polo shirt.
Harry then tells Joey that he killed his brother and
gives him Lennie's birthday gift of a harmonica to
convince him his brother is dead. He also tells Joey
to go on the lam for awhile and watch out for
policemen. Joey dressed in a polo shirt and wearing
a gun strap with a cap pistol, returns to the
apartment and takes the $6 his mother left for
shopping expenses and climbs down the fire escape of
the apartment building to flee the neighborhood. He
gets on the elevated BMT subway and gets off at the
last stop of Coney Island.

The focus of the movie is on watching the
frightened youngster land in such a children's
fantasy spot and roam around with wide-open eyes, as
the the ever-observant camera focuses on his
adventures. Joey uses the money to go on the
merry-go-round, ride the Steeplechase, hit the
thrown balls in the batting cage, take a photograph
as a cowboy and throw the ball in the knockdown game
to win a prize. Joey loads up on soda pop, cotton
candy, Nathan's hot dogs, watermelon, and
corn-on-the-cob. When he spots the pony ride, his
favorite, he has run out of money. But soon learns
from another youngster that you can collect empty
soda bottles on the beach and return them for a
deposit. With that money he becomes a regular on the
pony ride, as the kind-hearted worker takes a liking
to him and teaches the cowboy loving child how to
ride.

The dialogue was sparse, the story was
unambitious, the film lacked drama, the children
were very ordinary and their problem was only a
minor one, nevertheless this beautifully realized
film caught the world through the innocent eyes of a
curious and scared child and left an impression that
was hard to shake. It was uplifting to watch because
the effort was so genuine. The Lester Troeb
harmonica music in the background made it feel like
a cowboy adventure as it sets a wonderfully
lighthearted mood. I felt so much better for seeing
it, and it also induced me to reflect back on an age
when American big cities were more innocent and a
child could believably survive such an experience
without coming to harm. You can read all you want
about how the country has changed, but to see it so
clearly as filmed in this magazine-like looking pic
makes it all the more astonishing.